128 Retribution with Forgiveness. CHAP. 



a stumbling-block of iniquity unto the house of 

 Israel ; therefore have I lifted up My hand against 

 them, saith the Lord God, and they shall bear their 

 iniquity. And they shall not come near unto Me, 

 to execute the office of priest unto Me, nor 

 to come near to any of My holy things, unto the 

 things that are most holy : but they shall bear their 

 shame, and their abominations which they have committed. 

 Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the 

 house, for all the service thereof, and for all that 

 shall be done therein. 



" But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, 

 that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the 

 children of Israel went away from Me, they shall 

 come near to Me to minister unto Me, and they 

 shall stand before Me to offer unto Me the fat and 

 the blood, saith the Lord God : they shall enter into 

 My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, 

 to minister unto Me, and they shall keep My 

 charge." l 



We are here told that men who have sinned 

 against the God whom they served, and have after- 

 wards repented and been received back, may be 

 permitted again to enter His service, though debarred 

 from the highest service, which consists in minister- 

 ing in His immediate presence : that honour is 

 reserved for those who have always remained faith- 

 ful. I do not say that the Prophet wrote these 

 words with immediate reference to the spiritual or 

 1 Ezek. xliv. 10-16 ; see also xxxix. 25-27. 



